Tuesday is tour day for new listings in Palos Verdes. This morning, the list is rather short due to entering the after Thanksgiving holiday countdown, and the seemingly permanent condition of inventory shortage for Palos Verdes and other cities in the South Bay of Los Angeles. Today, there is only one new listing I need to preview for a prospective buyer. However, on the upside, it's a gorgeous day, so perhaps as I meander along Palos Verdes Drive South, I will capture a few more coastal photos I can use on my blog to display the beauty of our [...]

I attended the Palos Verdes Board of Realtors March Breakfast meeting yesterday. Although breakfast was delicious, my primary reasoning for being there was to hear Gov Hutchison, California Association of Realtors’ attorney, speak regarding trends and changes reflected in California laws and real estate forms. Here are the latest updates: There’s a new bedbug form. Yes, those little critters have arrived in our Golden State. The new disclosure form states landlords must disclose if the property was inspected for bedbugs, and if so, the results of said inspection. Tenants must tell landlord if the rental property becomes infected; landlord must [...]

Here's an update on luxury homes priced at or above $3,000,000 in Manhattan Beach, CA. 3 Manhattan Beach luxury homes sold during September 2015. All three were single family detached homes. 8 Manhattan Beach luxury homes are in escrow with accepted offers. 43 Manhattan Beach luxury homes are currently for sale. The luxury market in Manhattan Beach has cooled in recent months. A quick glance at the available inventory and absorption rate reveal a five month supply of homes. This moves the luxury home market in Manhattan Beach into neutral territory after several years of being firmly entrenched in [...]

Josh and I checked on the staging company's progress at our upcoming listing at 875 S Madison Ave. in Pasadena yesterday. Wow, what a difference fresh paint, new carpet and a truckload of furniture does make! The stately residence in the Madison Heights neighborhood of Pasadena is almost ready for her closeup photos that will be snapped by a professional photographer tomorrow morning. The home will be available Sunday, June 28, 2015 for showings, previews and the general public during the open house hours of 1:00 to 4:00 PM. The final touches were yet to be added, but here's a sneak [...]

Yes, I'm the barefoot blogger! I like to blog early before my day fills up with appointments and my mind is preoccupied with other demands and details that must be handled. My real estate blogging career began in 2007, and I've written more than 4000 articles about real estate in the South Bay of Los Angeles. I do it for future, present and past clients, but I find it an excellent way to keep our fingers on the pulse of the local real estate market. I maintain several niche blogs as well as our website and our oldest blog, Palos [...]

Josh and I attended a global real estate conference in Pasadena yesterday. We often work with international clients from around the world, and were eager to be informed about current trends and other useful information we can apply to our business at Charlemagne Int'l Properties. A few facts and trends I noted: 1) Chinese clients make up 40% of the international buyers in Los Angeles 2) Ten percent of real estate buyers in California are residents of China (2013 statistics) 3) Cash buyers are the driving force behind higher real estate prices in many California neighborhoods. Charlemagne Int'l Properties [...]

This dragonfly was visiting the LA Zoo on Saturday along with myself, my daughter's family and a few thousand other visitors. We, the people and the dragonfly, were there because we wanted to be there, and in our own way we exercised our free will to make it happen. The animals behind the moats and fences would tell another story. Life is full of choices. What job and where. What type of home and where, children, no children and the list goes on. Los Angeles is a big city and its inhabitants are faced with many choices. Choices are a [...]

Is the hot housing market cooling off in Palos Verdes and the South Bay of Los Angeles? These snapshots that measure the pulse of the local housing market indicate all three markets we measure are drifting away from the white-hot housing market that favored sellers throughout 2013. For the first time in months the Palos Verdes marker is hovering near 2, and the South Bay market has moved off its solid 1. The Beach Cities cool-off is less pronounced but is detectable. What does this mean for housing market participants? Buyers will have more choices as inventory increases and sellers [...]

The big real estate story on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, and surrounding South Bay area of Los Angeles, is inventory is finally catching up with demand. I greet this news with mixed emotions. First, for prospective buyers it is good news. Not only will there be more homes for them to consider prior to making an offer, the increased supply will allow them to negotiate a bit more on price and terms. There are other homes waiting in the pipeline if their first choice home is beyond their reach and that has not been the case for many months. On [...]

Last night I found myself wondering about the distribution of luxury homes in the cities that make up the South Bay area of Los Angeles. Yes, I still think of real estate after business hours, if there is such a thing as "after hours" in real estate. For years I blogged about luxury homes in Palos Verdes and the Beach Cities, today I'm going to check a few cities where we sell property, but do not often write about. For this article we will define "luxury home" as residential properties (single family, townhouse or condo) with a list price of [...]